Abdülkadir Aygan (born Uzunhıdır,

Suruç Suruç (, ku, Pirsûs, script=Latn, ''Sruḡ'') is a rural district and city of Şanlıurfa Province of Turkey, on a plain near the Syrian border southwest of the city of Urfa. History In antiquity the Sumerians built a settlement in the area. ...

Şanlıurfa Province Şanlıurfa Province ( tr, Şanlıurfa ili; ku, Parêzgeha Rihayê) or simply Urfa Province is a province in southeastern Turkey. The city of Şanlıurfa is the capital of the province which bears its name. The population is 1,845,667 (2014). The ...

, 1958) is a former member of the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of sout ...

(PKK) and of the

Turkish Gendarmerie The Gendarmerie General Command ( tr, Jandarma Genel Komutanlığı) is the national Gendarmerie force of the Republic of Turkey. It is a service branch of the Turkish Ministry of Interior responsible for the maintenance of the public order in a ...

JITEM Jandarma İstihbarat ve Terörle Mücadele or Jandarma İstihbarat Teşkilatı (abbr. ''JİTEM'' or ''JİT''; English: "Gendarmerie Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism" or "Gendarmerie Intelligence Organization") is the unofficial and illegal intel ...

intelligence unit. He has been described as "the most well-known among PKK members turned informants". Today's Zaman, 28 January 2009
Portrait of a JİTEM hit man: Abdülkadir Aygan
He is a refugee in Sweden since 2001, where he has been cooperating with prosecutors in the

Ergenekon trials The Ergenekon trials were a series of high-profile trials which took place on 2008–2016 in Turkey in which 275 people, including military officers, journalists and opposition lawmakers, all alleged members of Ergenekon, a suspected secularist ...

Life

Aygan joined the PKK in 1977. He had previously been shot in clashes with ultranationalists, and been visited in hospital by Abdullah Öcalan, a relative of his. He was captured in 1980, and released after 18 months. During military service on

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

in 1982, he fled, eventually to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and then Syria. From 1983 to 1985 he acted as a PKK courier in northern

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

. After witnessing the brutal execution of a suspected spy, he fled the PKK and surrendered to the

Turkish military The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; tr, Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri, TSK) are the armed forces, military forces of the Turkey, Republic of Turkey. Turkish Armed Forces consist of the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces, General Staff, the Turki ...

. He was interrogated by

Cem Ersever Ahmet Cem Ersever (1950 – 4 November 1993) was a commander in the Turkish Gendarmerie, and said to be one of the founders of the Gendarmerie's JITEM intelligence unit. He was assassinated in November 1993.) is a retired Turkish brigadier-genera ...

among others, and convinced by Ersever to join the

. He became part of a seven-person JITEM team led by Ersever, and was given a new identity, ''Aziz Turan'', while Aygan was officially declared dead. Turan was employed as a clerk by the

. During his tenure with JITEM Aygan is said to have been involved in "making blacklists of people ndkidnappings, torture, hostage-taking, murder, extortion, theft and smuggling". He describes JITEM's headquarters in Ankara as a large two-storey building, with Turkish Gendarmerie personnel working in civilian clothes and vehicles. Aygan resigned on 12 September 2001, and fled to Sweden, where he was granted asylum with his family. As part of the

, Aygan has shared his knowledge of 58 murders with the prosecution, including those of

Musa Anter Musa Anter (1920 – 20 September 1992), also known as "Apê Musa" ( ku, Apê Musa, literally "Uncle Musa"), was a Kurdish writer, journalist and intellectual and was assassinated by Turkish JITEM in September 1992. Early life and education He ...

Vedat Aydın Vedat Aydın (19537July 1991) was a Kurdish politician and human rights defender. He was married to Sükran Aydın. Early life and education He was born in 1953 in a village in Bismil, Diyarbakir. He graduated from the Literary department of ...

Today's Zaman, 14 September 2012
Former Jitem Agent Survived Suspicious Car Crash
and

Uğur Mumcu Uğur Mumcu (; 22 August 1942 – 24 January 1993)
um:ag was a

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aygan, Abdulkadir 1958 births Living people People from Suruç Members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party Susurluk scandal Refugees in Sweden Turkish refugees Turkish Gendarmerie personnel JİTEM personnel